good monday morning. right now on "first look," california's massive wildfire near yosemite is only 7% contained and is the size of chicago. the situation in sera is becoming dire as the u.s. pushes for proof of chemical weapons and ryes to rally an international response. miley cyrus's performance at the mtv video music awards is burning up all over the world. donald trump sued over trump university, a baby panda has the country's attention. good morning. nice to see you. i'm veronica de la cruz. filed fires battling a wildfire near yosemite have firefighters

on high alert. new this morning, officials say the fire could impact san francisco's water supply. flames are currently burning just five miles from the hetch reservoir. jay gray is in tow wall me. >> reporter: the rim fire gusting near than 40 miles an hour continues its attack. as the fire continues to grow, so does the army of teams pouring into the northern california mountains to battle the massive blaze. >> we're up to more than 2800 personnel on the fire. and it's the number one fire in the country right now. they're giving us what we need. >> reporter: air strikes, hotshots along the leading edge of the flames, and heavy equipment digging out fire

lines, moving out tried trees and other potential fuel for the flames. >> we're trying to save the public, save these dwellings and these houses and make it safe for everybody. >> reporter: 11 homes have been lost, another 4500 are in jeopardy right now. >> scary thing. but it's just a waiting game. you can't know what's happening. >> there's fire on both sides of the highway and our house is sur ronded. >> reporter: a fire out of control spreading in most every direction and swallowing everything in its path. >> reporter: which is why so many fire crews have gather here, working to keep this town out of the path of those planes. jay gray, veronica, back to you. major developments in the purported use of chemical weapons in syria. though a senior white house official says there's, quote, very little doubt they were used, it's still not confirmed.

syria will allow u.n. experts to visit the site of the alleged attack. they're on the way right now for an on-site fact-finding mission. >> all those in syria have a stake in finding out the truth. the whole world should be concerned about any threat or use of chemical weapons. and that is why the world is watching syria. nbc's i'm man mow ha dean live in cairo with the latest. >> what can we expect from this u.s. mission. >> reporter: as you mentioned, that inspection team has left the hotel in damascus, a short ride to where the alleged attack took place last week. it shouldn't be too long of a trip. in the past they had to coordinate movements with syrian government officials. it may delay their ability to inspect it. already some have criticized, including those in the u.s.,

criticized the delay in the syrian government in letting u.n. inspectors go to the actual site. it's now been several days and the syrian military has kept up its campaign on that location, bombing it, targeting it. so the u.s. has said some of the evidence that could indicate where the syrian regime did use chemical weapons may actually have been destroyed. what can we expect from the team? they'll try to meet with eyewitnesss, try to take samples, perhaps either from those who have survived and soil samples from the location. they certainly want access to the opposition and rebels. where the syrian government will grant them that remains to be seen. we can expect within the next 48 to 72 hours some indication from the u.n. inspectors as to what their initial findings will be. the samples will have to be taken out of syria for them to be substantiated. doctors without borders and has said some of those they've treated displayed evidence of neuro toxic agents.

>> all right. ayman, thank you for the update. the state of new york is slapping donald trump with a $40 million lawsuit. they're saying his trump university -- the state's education department made the school change its name in 2011. it said the school lacked a license and didn't meet legal definitions of a university. it is now known as the trump entrepreneur institute. trump meanwhile says the move is false and politically motivated tweeting, quote, attorney general eric schneiderman is trying to extort me with a civil lawsuit. the donald will be on the "today" show to answer questions directly. a follow up of "catcher in the rye" could be in store. the authors of a new j.d. sal linger biography could be out

with five more books a decade after his desk. no salinger book came out after the '60s. good news to tell you about after washington, following the first examination of the newborn panda. the tiny cub got off to a healthy start. the animal showed vibrant signs of life. at the end of the ten-minute exam vets were happy to learn the newborn has a steady heartbeat and functioning organs. a second exam is scheduled for tomorrow. here is the first look at this morning's scrambled politics. ruth gader ginsburg vows to stay on the court, calling it one of the most activist courts in history.

suzanna martinez and west virginia congresswoman shelly mark ped dough are two of the prominent women leaders mentioned by a new super pac. recruiting more republican women to run for office. thousands rallied in washington saturday for the 50th anniversary of the 1963 march on washington. john lewis talked about what it was like before that historic march. >> when i first came to washington in 1961, the same year that president barack obama was born to go on freedom rides, black people and white people couldn't be seated on a bus or a train together to travel through the south. >> former secretary of state colin powell commented on the trayvon martin verdict on "face the nation." >> i think that it will be seen as a questionable judgment on the part of the judicial system

down there, but i don't know if it will have staying power. these cases come along and blaze across the midnight sky and then after a period of time they're forgotten. texas senator ted cruz admitted republicans do not have the votes to defund obama care, but says he is, quote, not convinced that president obama wouldn't defund his own health care law if congress gave him the opportunity to do so. at the end of the video music awards last night, president barack obama showed his support for katy perry's finale and her song "roar" by tweeting to her after she tweeted about obama care. he said thanks for spreading the word, #roar. >> michelle and her daughters went to broadway to see the play "trip to bountdful." organizers might be regretting the pick of metlife

stadium for february's super bowl. the farmer's al mack is predicting a cold championship game. next year's game is the first to be played at an outdoor setting in cold weather. the almanac is right about 80% of the time. somebody right about 100% of the time is bill karins. >> 80% of the time is right? it's kind of like the national inquirer, every now and then they'll get a big story right. we'll find out super bowl sunday. a lot of weather headlines over the weekend. one of the big ones is obviously this rim fire in california. here is a picture from nasa, a picture taken from one of the satellites above the fire. that's the state of california. you can see the green there in the middle of the picture is the central valley. the fire is huge up in the mountains in the sierra there. the smoke was blowing the the north all weekend long, a very rural area. the other story over the

weekend. tropical storm fernand made land faufl in the southern gulf of mexico. this one thankfully was near land so couldn't become a hurricane, just a big rain event. it was hot over the weekend, very hot in the central plains, 96 minneapolis with a record high. we are right in the mid summer-like pattern for the end of summer. this is going to be an end of summer heat wave, here to stay for at least the next week from texas through the northern plains. at times some of the warm air will come to the east coast. we had a little rain in the areas that need it and deserts. not a lot of us made it up to the fire areas. we didn't get a lot of relief from that. your monday forecast. the big headline is, of course, the heat. 98 in minneapolis today. that's going to be easily the hottest temperature of the summer. it's funny. we had that august, chicago, the northern plains, new england wasn't that hot. this is going to be one of the hottest weeks of summer. a lot of kids are going back to school. it's not what they want or the

teacher. >> i didn't see many triple digits on that map. >> no. >> you factor in the humidity. >> much worse. the situation in syria is calling israelis to stock up on gas masks. one major sign that general motors has its mojo back. that's all next.

we've completely redone the house. it's hard to find contractors with the passion and the skill, and that's why we use angie's list. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time with honest reviews on over 720 local services. i want it done right. i don't want to have to worry about it or have to come back and redo it. with angie's list, i was able to turn my home into the home of my dreams. for over 18 years, we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer. [ female announcer ] aveeno® with soy helps reduce the look of brown spots in 4 weeks. for healthy radiant skin. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results.

♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪

good morning, welcome back. stories making news on this monday morning now, a 16-year-old boy will face a judge in court charged as an adult in the murder of an 88-year-old world war ii veteran. the search is undare way for a second suspect, 16-year-old keenan adams kin nard. israelis are stocking up on gas masks. officials say the demand has tripped ld. now your first look at

business news, we turn to cnbc's jackie deangelis. the exit of microsoft ceo steve ballmer may have been more sudden than portrayed by the company. he's stepping down within a year but reports say he hadn't planned on moving his post quite that soon. the exit date was moved up. facebook is dropping its program allowing users to send physical gifts. this is interesting. that feature had been seen as a bit of a threat to ebay and onlyson. facebook still selling virtual gifts like gift cards. subway has a new sandwich option. the chain is going to start offering garlic bread rolls after testing them in several cities. it's a limited time offer, but could be added to the permanent menu. i don't know. a little early to start talking about garlic bread rolls. >> maybe if they sold it alongside gum or mints it might work. members of the g-20 leaders

will meet in early september to discuss reforms for what's known as shadow banking, a $60 trillion sector. washington monthly is out with the raefting of best colleges. three university of california make that list along with texas a&m and case western. gas prices down 20 cents since this time last year. do airlines need a second cockpit door. when a pilot opens the main door to use a restroom, the cockpit becomes vulnerable. the airlines say it would cost millions of dollars to implement. general motors is back in the super bowl a year after gm passed on advising, the company will be launching 12 new chevy vehicles by the end of next year. the passing of wall street legend, mariel seib bert died over the weekend from complications from cancer. she was 80 years old.

take a look at this picture. we are going to tell you what will smith and his family were reacting to at this moment during last night's mtv awards. plus richard lui with all your sports highlights next. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. y check when i'd be sitting there with my friends who had their verizon phones and i'd be sitting there like "mine's still loading!" i couldn't get email. i couldn't stream movies. i couldn't upload any of our music. that's when i decided to switch. now that i'm on verizon, everything moves fast. with verizon, i have that reliability. i'm completely happy with verizon. verizon's 4g lte is the most reliable and in more places than any other 4g network. period. that's powerful. verizon. get the nokia lumia 928 for free. a quarter million tweeters is beare tweeting. and 900 million dollars are changing hands online. that's why hp built a new kind of server. one that's 80% smaller. uses 89% less energy. and costs 77% less. it's called hp moonshot.

and it's giving the internet the room it needs to grow. this&is gonna be big. hp moonshot. it's time to build a better enterprise. together. ♪

now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. morning on nbc news investigations, billions wasted on fruitless individual to create paperless vet health records. $1.3 billion over the past four

years to develop an electronic health record system. in "the miami herald," drone could become mosquito weapon in florida keys. later today officials will test the new weapon. let's get the latest in sports from richard lui. we're talking about the vmas? but not miley cyrus. >> not yet. >> the mtv video music awards were over the weekend. jason collins, the first openly gay nba player speaking, talking about how his grandmother worried he'd face the same prejudice she did growing up in the segregated south. >> but i knew that hating someone for their sexual orientation is the same thing as hating them for the color of their skin. >> now to the nfl preseason. vikings, 9ers, lavelle hawkins returning a 105 yard punt for a touchdown.

he gets a flag after that. he's so happy because he was taunting. the 9ers keep the touchdown. minnesota's adrian peterson had his preseason debut. 49ers take it 44-14. new orleans pee eyre thomas powers through the texans defense after a pass from drew brees. a juke, quick turns and gets the touchdown. matt schaub responds to andre giants, the saints win 38-23. former heavyweight boxing champ mike tyson saying he's on the verge of dying. during a press conference tyson said this. >> i haven't drink or took drugs in six days. for me that's a miracle. i've been lying to everybody else thinking i'm sober, but i'm not. the little league world series ends with an incredible double play by japan. they beat california. this was japan's ninth little

league run in a world series championship. in the pga barclays tournament, tiger woods need add birdie to force a play-off with adam scott, but no. just inches there. grab your forehead on that one. gary woodland misses a putt that would have tied him with scott. scott wins it. by the way, here is a golf fashion side note, rickie fowler and joan news blix made a pact to wear the same color. they're friends. why not. double check your spelling with tattoos, the arm of nba star larry sanders. read the word "receive." it's i before e except after c. indy carson nome ma, pit crew member taking a nasty fall. the pit member hurt his ankle. dixon god got a drive-through

power. power getting his 19th victory there. the extreme sailing regatta in wales, the boats looking like they'll flip over going so fast. they're called extreme 40s because they reach speeds of up to 40 knots. a team from switzerland and amman tied there. up next, bill karins up next. [ whispering ] uh! i had a nightmare!

the house caught fire and we were out on the streets. [ whispering ] shhh. it's only a dream. and we have home insurance. but if we made a claim, our rate would go up... [ whispering ] shhh. you did it right. you have allstate claim rate guard so your rates won't go up just because of a claim. [ whispering ] are we still in a dream? no, you're in an allstate commercial. so get allstate home insurance with claim rate guard... [ whispering ] goodnight. there are so many people in our bedroom. [ dennis ] talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] ...and let the good life in.

. time for "first buzz," richard lui and bill karins join me. we'll start with running of the bulls. >> i have done it in pamplona,

spain. this is in virginia where they had seven runs. they were trying to replicate what's in pamplona, called the great bull run. they did seven of them. they put 12 bums out there and run. as you see them running here, they had some trouble. when they first let out the first six, they wouldn't run. so they let out another six. in terms of injuries, there was one runner that suffered an injury that required a trip to the hospital and another went to' -- >> do you see any females there, any of the smarter -- >> 40% women. >> american bulls, give them some time, they'll get the hang of it. >> totally different training regiment. >> now we'll move on to miley cyrus. the internet has lit up with word of miley cyrus's vma performance last week. >> that's robin thicke. >> shocking audiences. she was performing "blurred

lines." >> people are saying no one will ever be able to wear a foam finger again. >> apparently this dance move is called the twerk. >> robin thicke's wife was right there in the front row as all this was going on. >> absolutely amazing. >> i was watching the whole thing, what is her dad thinking? >> she's 20 years old now. >> he should ground her. >> never fails to surprise. >> surprisingly lady gaga made an appearance looking completely normal. now you have miley cyrus dressed in next to nothing looking like a teddy bear. >> trying to outshock each other. the only person i saw that was the actual good reaction was j. wow from the jersey shore who said she loved it. most of the reactions were like will smith. >> will smith brought his entire family. >> jayden is like oh, boy. >> their mouths are like --

>> daddy, she's kind of my age and i don't approve. >> look away, kids. look away. >> i'm very veronica de la cruz. stay tuned because "way too early" starts right now. . ♪ ♪ >> anyone in the adult demo including me thankful justice timberlake and i guess n sink giving us a little class. miley and gaga reminding me that i'm way too old. on a more serious note, out west wildfires threaten yosemite national park. it's so big now it has its own weather pattern. we have the latest details on where it's headed next.

the latest chapter in the mike tyson saga. the former boxer coming clean about an addiction he says is on the verge of killing him. this is "way too early." watching the vmas for me is quite an experience. good morning, i'm brian shactman, monday august 26th. we'll update you the latest on syria. president assad using pretty loaded metaphor as it warns the united states. in sports, tiger woods playing hurt. he just went down. we'll fill you in on what happened with the rest of the tournament he was playing in new jersey. we start out west where it's been a summer of absolutely brutal fires across several states. the latest bearing down on one of the country's most cherished landmarks, yosemite national park. fueled by